Zakah on the principal and its profits

Q: You know (may Allah safeguard you) that the payment of the Zakah (obligatory charity) due on money such as gold and silver, as well as on commercial commodities and cattle, is conditional upon the passing of the Hawl (one lunar year calculated from the time a property reaches the minimum amount upon which Zakah is due), which is completely acceptable. However, confusion occurred with regard to the money added during the Hawl to the original property for which the Hawl is complete. Is Zakah due on the money added and does it take the same rule of the original capital? Please (Part No. 8; Page No. 309) clarify this issue and cite the relevant textual evidence, (may Allah safeguard you). Indeed, we are confused about the statement of some of our scholars at the present time. They say that no Zakah is due on this added money, which is contrary to what we know from the books of Fiqh (Islamic Jurisprudence) that declare the obligation of Zakah on generated money. This also entails great hardship, as people will be obliged to pay Zakah throughout the whole year, as every part of the money will have a specific time for Hawl and Zakah; a person will pay the Zakah of the capital and then the Zakah of the added money and so on. The process of adding new capital may occur several times during the months and days of the Hawl. Furthermore, according to the accounts in the biography of the Prophet (peace be upon him), he only sent Zakah collectors once during the year, which only repeated on a yearly basis. First: If the case was as our scholars, who said that Zakah is not obligatory on the money added to the original assets, mentioned, it would have been obligatory on the Prophet (peace be upon him) to mention that, because people face this many times. It is well known that delaying the legal declaration beyond the time of need is impermissible. Second: It would also have been obligatory upon the Prophet (peace be upon him) to send Zakah collectors during the whole year on a monthly basis to collect Zakah from Muslims on the money whose Hawl was complete from the money added to the original assets. Please elaborate on this issue.


A: When a person has any kind of wealth on which Zakah is due and adds to it kinds of wealth for which Zakah is obligatory before the completion of the Hawl, then the question will be one of only two cases:First case: The money added may be profit, thus, the Hawl of it will be the same as the original capital. Upon the passing of the entire Hawl of the capital, he must pay the Zakah due on the capital and the profit. The same is equally applied to animals born from the original cattle during the Hawl, so Zakah is due on both the original cattle and their offspring during the year. (Part No. 8; Page No. 310) Second case: When the added money is neither profit nor offspring of the original cattle but independent money, the sum of Zakah, which a person may save from his salary, will be due on every sum after the passing of a full Hawl from the time of saving this independent money on the condition that the money is a Nisab (the minimum amount on which Zakah is due) or more. However, if it is difficult for a person to calculate an independent Hawl for each sum, he is permitted to pay the Zakah due on all his money at a specific time of the year. Thus, the Zakah on the money, whose Hawl is not yet complete, will be paid in advance. At the same time the following year, he should pay Zakah on all the property and so on.May Allah grant us success. May peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and Companions.


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